Some democracies fall apart because of invasion by a neighbor, terrorism, or a natural disaster, but most are being taken down by their own own greedy oligarchs.

It's important now, in light of both world events and the way the Republican party has been captured by a small group of rightwing billionaires and white supremacists, to introduce Americans to an 18th century word that is new to most people alive today, at least in the context of partisan politics.

That word is: faction.

The crises caused by faction were a big deal at the founding of our republic. Faction was a matter of conversation among average people.

It was the same when the South was seized by an oligarchic faction of plantation owners and turned from a whites-only democracy into a neofascist oligarchy in the 1840s and 1850s.

Factions are destroyers of democracies.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Serializing the entire book to you, one chapter every Sunday...

Back in 2002, when I wrote this book, most Americans thought the Boston Tea Party was a revolt against "excess taxes" and that "corporate personhood" was something the Supreme Court conferred on companies back in 1886. This book blew up both myths, pointing out that the Boston Tea Party was a revolt against the British government giving the East India Company the largest corporate tax cut in history (so they could unfairly compete with small colonial tea merchants) — basically a revolt against the Wal-Mart-ization of the colonies — and that the Supreme Court did not rule that corporations are persons and thus entitled to rights under the Bill of Rights in 1886 (it was a corrupt scam by a bribed SCOTUS justice and Court Clerk). In the 20 years since Unequal Protection first came out, this "new" knowledge is now widespread. With permission from the publisher, Berrett-Koehler, I'll be sharing the entire book (the updated edition) with you, one chapter at a time, over the next dozen or so Sundays.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

The Best of the Rest of the News.

— It's time to prosecute Trump for his crimes against America and the American people.
— Putin held a superspreader rally in Moscow yesterday and it had an eerie resemblance to Trump's early rallies, right down to the paid attendees like Trump hired when he announced his candidacy in 2015.
— Last Thursday the House of Representatives voted 428-8 to suspend permanent normal trade relations with Russia.
— China is the Ukraine wild-card.
— While Koch Industries refuses to leave Russia, polling shows that 80 percent of US voters favor a windfall profits tax on Big Oil.
— Roger Stone is trying to sell a plan to make Trump president next year; that's how bizarre and desperate these anti-American conspirators have become.
— Elected Republicans are increasingly using "eliminationist" rhetoric, normalizing the idea that violence against Democrats and minority groups in America is an acceptable form of "legitimate political discourse."
— In Good News, Denver has sent out mental health teams to deal with 911 calls over 2000 times and not once did they need police backup.
— Trekkie Alert! Star Trek uber-fan Stacey Abrams stars as the leader of planet Earth in the newest season of Paramount+'s Star Trek series.

Read more at HartmannReport.com.

-Thom

Monday's Daily Stack

Article: "Is America is Facing The "Doom Loop" of Democracy?" by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Federalist 10" by James Madison.

Article: "Memoirs of the life and ministerial conduct, with some free remarks on the political writings, of the late lord visc. Bolingbroke".

Article: "Preamble to the Constitution of the United States".

Article: "Essays, Moral, Political, and Literary, Part 1 (1741, 1777)" by David Hume.

Article: "Could Putin Be Failing Because of a Lack of Democracy? " by Thom Hartmann.

Book: "The American Revolution of 1800: How Jefferson Rescued Democracy from Tyranny and Faction - and What This Means Today" by Dan Sisson with Thom Hartmann

Article: "Billionaire Republican Donors Are Now Giving To Manchin And Sinema" by Michela Tindera.

Book: A History of England: From the Earliest Times to the Revolution in 1688 by David Hume.

Article: "American killed in Ukraine described increasing hardships for civilians in city near Russia" by Steve Almasy.

Article: "Poland's generous welcome of Ukrainian refugees shows signs of strain" by Zosia Wanat.

Article: "'Unthinkable': Scientists Shocked as Polar Temperatures Soar 50 to 90 Degrees Above Normal" by Brett Wilkins.

Article: "The Maidan protest movement" by Britannica.

Article: "Orange Revolution" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Putin cracks down on rallies as thousands take to the streets in Russia to protest Ukraine invasion" by Joe Middleton.

Article: "Damn: A sobering note from Finland about America's role in all of this" by Dartagnan.

Article: "A Note From Finland" by Josh Marshall.

Case: "Buckley v. Valeo", 1976.

Case: "First National Bank Of Boston V. Bellotti", 1978.

Case: "Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission" (2010).

Case: "District of Columbia v. Heller", 2008 (2nd Amendment).

Case: "McDonald v. Chicago" (2010).

Book: Laboratories of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call from Behind the Lines by David Pepper.

Article: "Don Young" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Rep. Don Young, longtime Alaska congressman, dies at 88" by AP.

Article: "Koch Industries Refuses to Exit Russia" by Irenaeus.

Article: "Nestle: We will continue to sell 'essential' food in Russia – including Cheerios" by Henry Saker-Clark.

Article: "In the ancient Greek play 'Lysistrata,' women stop having sex with men to end a bloody war" by Nina Renata Aron.

Article: "War in Ukraine: Gordon Brown backs Nuremberg-style trial for Putin" by Kathryn Snowdon & Lauren Turner.

Article: "The Hague Tribunal: What will russia be tried for and how? VoxCheck explains" by Oleksandra Panasytska.

Article: "International Criminal Court" by Wikipedia.

Law: "Rome Statute of The International Criminal Court", 1998.

Article: "United States and the International Criminal Court" by Wikipedia.

Article: "International Court of Justice" (World Court, the Hague) by Wikipedia.

Article: "For Putin the pariah justice MUST come: Former PM GORDON BROWN knows from personal experience what a cold-blooded monster Russia's president is... Here he announces an international campaign to put him in the dock for his war of aggression" by Gordon Brown.

Tweet: "Marsha Blackburn, in discussing SCOTUS nominee Jackson, says she wants to know her position on "constitutionally unsound" decisions like Griswold v. Conn (making birth control a protected right) that have "confused Tennesseans." [video]" by Ron Filipkowski.

Case: "Griswold v Connecticut".

Book: The Hidden History of Big Brother in America: How the Death of Privacy and the Rise of Surveillance Threaten Us and Our Democracy by Thom Hartmann.

Article: "Republican Study Committee" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Supreme Court gives Ohio right to purge thousands of voters from its rolls" by Pete Williams.

Article: "Comstock laws" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Lani Guinier, Legal Scholar at the Center of Controversy, Dies at 71" by Clay Risen.

Article: "Anita Hill" by Wikipedia.

Article: "18 richest black billionaires and their net worth" by Chioma Uchenwoke.

Article: "Cluster munition" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Depleted uranium" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Napalm" by Wikipedia.

Article: "S-mine" ("Bouncing Betty") by Wikipedia.

Article: "Margaret Sanger" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Critical Race Theory" (CRT) by Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Article: "When Native Americans Were Slaughtered in the Name of 'Civilization'" by History Channel.

Article: "Outcry as Trump officials to transfer sacred Native American land to miners" by Annette McGivney.

Article: "Oneida Indian Nation" by Wikipedia.

Article: "World population" by Wikipedia.

Book: "The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight: Revised and Updated: The Fate of the World and What We Can Do Before It's Too Late" by Thom Hartmann.

Law: "15th Amendment", February 3, 1870 "The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude"

Article: "A Guide to Voter Caging" by Justin Levitt.

Article: "Guy McPherson" by Wikipedia.

Site: Common Dreams

Site: Daily Kos

Site: Democratic Underground.

Article: "Mueller report" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Uyghurs" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Companies That Do Test on Animals" by PETA.

Article: "What is the nature of Nestlé's relationship with L'Oréal?" by Nestlé.

Article: "Trump's team agreed to encourage Jan. 6 attendees to march to the Capitol: rally organizer " by Sarah K. Burris.

Article: "Exclusive: Witness Claims Trump's Chief of Staff Was on Phone Call Planning Jan. 6 March on Capitol" by Hunter Walker.

Article: "Putin Aggression Leads to Surge in Electrical Vehicle Progress in Europe" by Juan Cole.

Site: Ethical Consumer.

Article: "Putin warns Russia against pro-Western 'traitors' and scum" by Reuters.

Article: "Josh Hawley" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Josh Hawley's latest attack on Ketanji Brown Jackson is genuinely nauseating" by Ian Millhiser.

Article: "Ketanji Brown Jackson's Guantanamo Clients an Issue for GOP" by AP.

Article: "China hits out at NATO after alliance singles it out alongside Russia" by Rachel Elbaum.

Article: "Al Smith" by Wikipedia.

Speech: "A Rendezvous With Destiny", Franklin D. Roosevelt, 27 June 1936 speech to the Democratic National Convention, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. "These economic royalists complain that we seek to overthrow the institutions of America. What they really complain of is that we seek to take away their power. Our allegiance to American institutions requires the overthrow of this kind of power."

Article: "Russian elite invested nearly $100 million in Trump buildings" by Nathan Layne, Ned Parker, Svetlana Reiter, Stephen Grey and Ryan McNeill.

Article: "Project Veritas" by Wikipedia.

Article: "Democracy Partners" by BallotPedia.

Article: "Anonymous disrupts Kremlin's propaganda with anti-Putin printer attack: report" by Tom Boggioni.

Article: "Anonymous Takes Anti-Putin Battle To Russian People With Printer Attack To Disrupt Kremlin's Propaganda" by Nica Osorio.

Article: ""World War III"" by John Aravosis.

Article: "Cuban missile crisis" (1962) by Wikipedia.

Article: "Video of China plane carrying 132 passengers shows nosedive before mountain crash" by Carl Samson.

Article: "Costco stock surges during Russia-Ukraine war as traders seek safe havens" by Brian Sozzi.

Article: "Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs" by Saul McLeod.

Article: "Peddler's martyrdom launched Tunisia's revolution" by Lin Noueihed.

Article: "Arab Spring" by Encyclopaedia Britannica.

Article: "Wheat and corn prices could jump if Russia invades Ukraine" by Julia Horowitz.

Site: In support of Ukraine: Tracking Businesses Pulling Out of Russia.

Site: Tony's Chocolonely.

Tuesday on The Thom Hartmann Program, 12-3pm ET

We'll have the latest news and information...everything you need to know to win the water cooler wars...

And, the best of the rest of the news along with your calls right here on...

The Thom Hartmann Program, Occupying The Media 3 hours a day 5 days a week for "we the people"

And don't forget...Democracy is NOT a spectator sport...it begins with you...

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Is Hillsdale College The Intellectual Arm of The Far Right? (w/ Kathryn Joyce)

Why Putin Is Losing His War

Khanna Reveals 2024 Plans (w/ Ro Khanna)